Yashasvi Jaiswal breaks Tendulkar and Gavaskar's records
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Time of India
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- Time of India
Wimbledon 2025 Monday schedule, Sunday results: Carlos Alcaraz wins, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner play on Monday
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Economic Times
3 hours ago
- Economic Times
Private investments flat, but pickup in demand seen: CII Chief Rajiv Memani
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads New Delhi: Private investment stayed flat in the last three-six months as companies are finding it challenging to envisage manufacturing amid an uncertain tariff structure, though it is currently seeing a revival in line with an improvement in the demand environment , said Rajiv Memani, president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)."I won't say it has gone down, but it is kind of flat in the last three to six months. But we can see an acceleration happening as the demand environment picks up especially with the interest rate reduction," Memani told ET, adding that land and environment approvals should also be firms announced new projects worth ₹3.5 lakh crore in the quarter ended June, sharply rising from ₹1.4 lakh crore a year earlier, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. However, it was the lowest level of private investments in four quarters. On urban consumption, Memani said there is some slowdown, especially in the lower-to-middle-income noted that India previously used to take a long time for inking free trade agreements (FTA) with the West. That scenario has changed, with all nations including India presently evaluating trade pacts with trusted partners."I think it's a positive change, but it is a big change. We are signing up with large countries where we have complementarity of with countries we are competing with," said Memani, adding such pacts also create a bigger market opportunity besides generating interest from micro, small and medium issues that India should be wary of while negotiating FTAs with developed countries, he said, "You have to be trusting and verifying go in step by step rather than trying to boil the ocean in one go."Insisting that India has to create efficiency by unleashing further reforms on land, logistics, energy, and labour productivity, even at the state level, he also called for more investments in R&D. "We need to act with more speed and look at either reforms and allocations towards R&D and also some of the production linked incentive (PLI) schemes or schemes like PLI which require some initial support," Memani how the industry is preparing to deal with shocks such as China suspending rare earth exports, he said companies are reducing their financial risks, taking lesser debt, and relying more on industry chamber is assessing the extent of India's reliance on global supply chains. Citing the instance of compressors, Memani said the critical parts are imported and that CII is engaging with the government on ways to address the issue and areas where PLI support is has recently recalled its engineers and technicians from the Indian factories of Taiwanese contract manufacturing giant Foxconn and Memani said the Centre has been cautioning the local industry that such things can happen, urging it to be prepared. The government, he noted, has been proactive and offered PLI said CII's suggestions on goods and services tax (GST) reforms include rate rationalisation and slab structuring, subsuming all taxes in the overarching framework and input tax credit which impact industry competitiveness. "I think it's very important that we find ways and means to bolster the income and resilience of the bottom 30%," Memani reform pertains to assessment audit processes wherein states have their own separate audits with each raising different issues and asking different sets of information. "What we have recommended is that there should be a standard operating procedure. Secondly, can we just do the audit once at least for the MSMEs. So these are newer issues that are coming up," he said. The last GST reform is technology-linked where for smaller companies, CII has recommended lesser compliances."Within some sectors, there are areas where we have dependencies in industry is trying to see how the gross value add can improve. So if you look at electronics, how can you bring it up to late 20% or early 30% in the next five-six years," Memani said, pointing to disabilities in certain sectors. The CII has set up an AI Centre of Excellence to help companies become more efficient. "We are seeing early signs in some industries-information technology and financial services. I think there is a clear need that India should be the AI capital of the world," said Memani.
Economic Times
4 hours ago
- Economic Times
Fresh plan in the works to promote Indian ships for higher cargo share
India is preparing a new plan. This plan aims to boost Indian ships. The current scheme is likely to miss targets. The government wants to be a key maritime player. Consultations identify demand for 200 new ships. These ships are worth ₹1.3 lakh crore. The petroleum, steel, and fertiliser sectors need them. The goal is to increase Indian-flagged ships. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular in Transportation 1. Cochin Shipyard to partner with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering in various domains New Delhi: India is readying a new plan to promote domestically-flagged ships after an existing scheme appears set to miss its targets for the sector, hindering the government's aim to become a key player in global maritime consultations have identified aggregated demand for about 200 new Indian ships worth ₹1.3 lakh crore required for imports by the petroleum, steel, and fertiliser sectors."Shipping Ministry is working with Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel, and Fertiliser to address the low imports on India flagged ships," the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) said, responding to queries from ET. "This has resulted in demand for around 200 ships of 8.6 million Gross Tonnage (GT) worth around ₹1.3 lakh crore which would be jointly owned by the public sector companies (PSUs) and built in Indian shipyards over the next few years," the ministry Centre's latest attempt to bolster the lineup of Indian-flagged merchant ships follows the high probability of the current ₹1,624 crore scheme to promote such vessels missing its goal. Maritime trade experts say the share of cargo carried by domestically-flagged ships in imports is still at around 8%, unchanged since 2021 when the scheme was launched."A review of the scheme is now expected but just ₹330 crore has been disbursed till now, and the share of Indian flagged ships remains in single digits," a senior official told ET. The scheme was announced in the FY22 budget and approved by the Union cabinet in July 2021. Funds were to be disbursed till FY26, providing up to 15% subsidy to Indian shipping companies participating in global tenders issued by the Centre and its arms. Sops were offered for importing government cargo such as crude oil, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), coal, and share of Indian vessels in the carriage of the country's export import (EXIM) trade plunged to about 7.8% in FY19 from 40.7% in 1987-88. As per official estimates, this led to around $70 billion annual foreign exchange outgo to foreign shipping lines. Indian ports handled around 1540.34 million metric tonnes (MMT) cargo in 2023-24, 7.5% higher than a year ships mandatorily employ Indian seafarers while also complying with domestic taxation and corporate laws, leading to 20% higher operating costs, according to official watchers say the increased operating costs is due to higher costs of debt funds, shorter loan tenures, and taxation on wages of Indian seafarers engaged on Indian vessels. There is also an integrated Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Indian companies importing ships, blocked GST tax credits, discriminatory GST on Indian vessels providing services between two Indian ports; all of which are not applicable to foreign ships providing similar services. The domestic industry has been lobbying for lowering of these duties and taxes."Nothing has happened to reduce this burden of duties and taxes on Indian ships that impairs their competitiveness," Anil Devli, CEO, Indian National Shipowners Association told ET.
